Another day, another dinner party.

This meal was prepared for our friend Julie, which was very brave as she is a dietician. Julie did seem to particularly enjoy the pre-dinner sputniks and the dessert, well who wouldn’t, it was pineapple set in jelly! Ann thought that the meal was lacking in refinement, this could be because she (the cook) was absent from the kitchen during those crucial moments when the meat loaf was actually baking. She had hoped that the pineapple would caramelise, which it may have done if it was on the top rather than the base of the dish. The assistant cook, Anne, thought it was all yummy.

Ann’s recipe for Upside-down Pineapple Meatloaf

500g minced beef, 500g sausage mince, 1 finely chopped onion, ½ cup rolled oats, 1 egg, ¼ cup tomato sauce, 1 tspn dried basil, salt and pepper, pineapple rings and extra tomato sauce

Grease and line a loaf tin, spread a thin layer of tomato sauce on the bottom, arrange the pineapple rings in a decorative pattern on the sauce. Mix the rest of the ingredients together by hand and press into the loaf tin. Bake for 1 hour at 170°C. Turn out onto a platter and garnish with parsley. Serve slices at the table with vegetables.

Jellied Pineapple Slices

440g can Golden Circle Pineapple Slices, 1 pkt lime-flavoured jelly crystals, boiling water.

Drain syrup from pineapple and measure into saucepan. Add sufficient boiling water to make 1 ½ cups liquid. Bring to boiling point, remove from stove and stir in jelly crystals until dissolved. Cool. Return pineapple slices to can and pour the cooled jelly into can around slices. Chill until firm. Run hot knife around slices and unmould onto serving plate. Serve sliced with cream or ice cream.